Ivory Interior Discoloration

[capobvious]

Hi,
I've had my EX-L coupe for about 500 miles now, and just starting to see some darkening on my driver seat from possibly my jeans or my black pants i wear for work. Now i've never had beige leather interior, so is this normal? am i going to have to clean this every month to stop it?? does anyone know of a protectant I can use that wont make the seats feel as slippery as a bowling alley?

Thanks!!! Steve

[RTexasF]

Yes you will need to clean it about monthly. To cut to the chase....Lexol cleaner and Lexol conditioner. Wal-Mart. This may help as well:

http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15193&highlight=leather

[capobvious]

DAMN!! haha oh well

[mb27]

Yup, mine has done the same. Gotta keep em clean.

[VTECaddict]

black leather ftw! :D

[namegoeshere]

black cloth ftw! :D

Fixed. :D

No cleaning, no conditioning.....

But leather does feel nice though.

[Darth Do'Urden]

Fixed. :D

No cleaning, no conditioning.....

And plenty of LINT/DEBRIS/DIRT/EVERYTHING ELSE UNDER THE SON showing up!

Black Leather FTW! =P

[HondaPOD]

Fixed. :D

No cleaning, no conditioning.....

But leather does feel nice though.

True but what if you spill water on the seats?? It starts to mold + stink if not cleaned all the way. I love my leather. :thmsup:

[mb27]

You can keep your black on black - after having dark blue on dark gray (hot!), I love having white on ivory.

[Cubby80204]

I did the Lexol treatment this weekend on my ivory leather (3 mos. old with the same discoloration) and it worked beautifully. WARNING though...I was so impressed I did a leather chair in my study and it worked too well. The chair has some marbeling color texture to it and the Lexol took it right out. Luckily I did a small test patch or the chair would have looked pretty stupid. It did wonders on the Accord leather though.

I highly recommend this product. $9.99 for each the cleaner and conditioner at Pep Boys.

[Trip]

I did the Lexol treatment this weekend on my ivory leather (3 mos. old with the same discoloration) and it worked beautifully. WARNING though...I was so impressed I did a leather chair in my study and it worked too well. The chair has some marbeling color texture to it and the Lexol took it right out. Luckily I did a small test patch or the chair would have looked pretty stupid. It did wonders on the Accord leather though.

I highly recommend this product. $9.99 for each the cleaner and conditioner at Pep Boys.

I've had mixed success with using Lexol on leather items outside of my cars. Its obviously formulate to work with the tanning processes for leather in cars but for other types, it could ahve very different results.

I've used it on leather lifting gloves, chairs, and a brief case with great results. There was another briefcase (parchment "bomber" leather) that didn't take to it well.

[sehryan]

Is this really what Ivory Leather folks have to deal with? My wife and I had discoloration on the leather seats within the week after buying it, and took it in to have it fixed, only to have it happen again almost immediately.

We were assuming that it was something faulty on Honda's end, because I cannot imagine that people in "higher end" cars with tan leather have to deal with this problem.

[Trip]

Lighter colors just show more dirt, no two ways about it.

Even the light gray leather in my 03 and 06 Accords got dirty. It was no where near as noticable, but when cleaning periodically, the water in the bucket got just as dirty.

[Mr.accord]

that aint cool. time to visit the dealer here

[ho1ming]

I had a 2000 Accord coupe EXL with Ivory leather and has no sign of significant decoloration at the time i sold it 1 year ago. You may want to check with the dealer.

[honda761]

I gave up the fight a long time ago. My first mistake with my ivory interior is to go with Honda's all weather mats. For the driver's side they provide terrible protection, got to go with the weathertech ones. Pay up for them, they will be a good investment. As for the stains from jeans, jackets, I got them too. Only thing I use for my leather seats is Meguires Gold and it cleans but doesnt remover any stain.

[onewheelup]

Honda seems to have used a nicer leather than previous Accords. I've found that its more supple and thus more likely to get dirty. It's a trade off. Nothing wrong with the cars though.

[XLR8]

On my moms 2007 they began to discolor from her black pants but I used my lexol cleaner and conditioner, twice. Looks new! I've never had discoloration on my ivory interior (2004) however my leather is beginning to crack where your legs rest on the front of the seat from getting in and getting out. I condition them at least once ever two weeks. :-/ kind of a bummer but what can you do? I think it has something to do with the cold when my car is parked outside as well.

[rsnsx]

We were assuming that it was something faulty on Honda's end, because I cannot imagine that people in "higher end" cars with tan leather have to deal with this problem.

Your guess re. "higher end" cars is dead-on. My black '91 Acura NSX had an even lighter Ivory leather, however, the factory treated/coated it, so Lexol was not recommended since it would never reach the actual leather. I bought it in '98 and drove it daily until '02 and only had to use a mild cleaner. The leather looked new when I sold it. In '02, I sold the NSX and bought a '98 Lexus SC 300 with "taupe" leather that was not "coated" like the NSX but would take 6 to 10 months to show any discoloration and was easy to clean. Bottom line, higher-end cars DO have better leather, that's why I chose the black leather for my '08 Coupe. (Also, imho the Ivory with black trim and carpet etc. used on the new Accord looks strange.)

[sehryan]

That's what my wife and I have been thinking. We plan to take it to the dealer for discoloration, because we cannot believe that this is just how it is when you have light colored leather. Getting dirty after a year of constant use, or even a few months, I can see. But after a week or so? Thats just poor quality.

[Landshark67]

Good call on the cleaning products.

FWIW - Honda uses a few different leather sources in the US. Garden State Tanning and Eagle Ottawa are two I'm aware of..not sure if Seton is doing seat leather for them or not (maybe through JCI or TS Tech). The point is that the leathers are different and experimenting with different cleaners is the only way to know which one will work best. The seat bolster takes a pounding because everyone scrapes against it getting in and out of the car. Usually, there is a healthy amount of treatment already added to the leather to ensure it will pass the egress tests. That would explain why some cleaners won't work as well as others (especially in this area).

Also, if you ever stain or cause the seat leather to discolor, go directly to the dealership. They can order another trim cover for your seat as this is a high priority warranty issue for them (and Honda). The leather is treated to the proper color. It should not be easy to stain/fade. If it does, don't hesitate to have the dealer address it.

-Shark

[XLR8]

I'm going to bring my moms 07 with leather ivory interior to the dealer later this week. Hers is discoloring again after I cleaned and conditioned it using lexol about 2 weeks ago. I'm not going to accept that that's just the way it is since I have an 04 with ivory interior and has never discolored in any way. Hopefully a new dealer will be able to take care of me since I'm fed up with the other closest one since they changed from a private owner to a chain of dealers.